The document discusses the three main roles or "hats" of an elder: discipleship, service, and oversight. It emphasizes that the roles of discipleship and service apply to all Christians, not just elders. Developing disciples who make disciples through strategies like dyads, triads and quads is key. Elders must also equip and deploy people for ministry according to their spiritual gifts. In their oversight role, elders should love and lead with the eyes of Jesus, seeing people's true needs. Effective eldership requires defining a clear vision, discernment, strategic planning and granting appropriate levels of permission to others. Eldership is challenging in times of rapid cultural and ecclesiastical change, requiring humility, experimentation and maintaining

1. The Acts 16:5 InitiativeThe Acts 16:5 Initiative
Develop a Defining VisionDevelop a Defining Vision

2. © 20013 E. Stanley Ott

3. Elder
Leadership
Matters

4. Discipleship Service Oversight
Three Hats of an Elder

5. Discipleship Service Oversight
Three Hats of an Elder

6. The Hat of Discipleship –
Be a disciple
Grow a disciple
A lifestyle to be lived before it is a program
program to be run (witness, prayer, care…)
Dyads, Triad, Quads
A Rule of Life
The Word of God
Prayer
Examen
Small Group Life

7. “Nosey” questions:
What strategy do you personally use for
growing disciples? With whom?
What strategy does your congregation use
for growing disciples who grow disciples?
mainline church members often have no
such personal strategy yet are open to
learn.

8. The Hat of Service –ministry
Equipped and Deployed
inside and outside the
congregation.
S.H.A.P.E. – spiritual gifts, heart, abilities,
personality experience
During the time on Session this may or
may not be as an elder assignment

9. Discipleship Service
The first two hats of an Elder are two
hats for all Christians – before serving
on a Session and after serving on the
Session. Develop a disciple-growing,
Equipping Farm System!

10. The hat of Oversight
To love and to
lead the flock of God
The double focus of
Ministry
Other Hats…

12. People Eyes - the eyes of Jesus
for people –
loving them – care
leading them - discipleship

13. ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to
bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
Jesus’ eyes saw the true needs of the people in front of him:
The woman with the jar of perfume
Bartimaeus
Widow of Nain
Canaanite woman’s daughter
Woman at the well
The Centurian’s Son
Wedding in Cana
Lepers
Receive People eyes – in your own head
– seeing through the eyes of Jesus for people

15. Ministry Support:: finances, facilities and personnel
Worship
Discipleship
Ministry
Mobilization
Leadership
Fellowship
Missional
Endeavor
The
Vital
Church
Generosity

16. Discipleship Service Oversight
Three Hats of an Elder

17. Work
The typical committee, board or
Team is one dimensional.
It meets for one reason:
To accomplish some assigned work

18. Doxological
Koinonial Missional
A Three-Dimensional Ecclesiology

19. The Koinonial Dimension

20. 5 practices of the doxological and koinonial
dimensions of Session life:
•The Seven Threads of Relationships
•Word-Share-Prayer
•Rotating Prayer Partners
•Quarterly Meals
•Annual Retreat
The basis of a covenant of community life

21. The Seven Threads of Ministry Team Relationships:
1. Spiritual Disciplines
2. Face-to-Face Relationships
3. Confidentiality
4. Communication
5. Clear expectations
6. Loose-tight
7. Loving Loyalty

22. WORD
SHARE
PRAYER
Send to ministry and mission
© 2004 E. Stanley Ott
www.VitalChurchesInstitute.com

23. www.VitalChurchesInstitute.com

24. Rotating Prayer PartnersRotating Prayer Partners
I pray that, according to the riches of God’s glory,
God may grant that ______ and I may be
strengthened in our inner being with power through
God’s Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts
through faith. As _____ and I are being rooted and
grounded in love. I pray that ____ and I may have the
power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so
that ______ and I may be filled with all the fullness of
God.
EPHESIANS 3:16-19

25. 5 practices of the doxological and koinonial
dimensions of Session life:
•The Seven Threads of Relationships
•Word-Share-Prayer
•Rotating Prayer Partners
•Quarterly Meals
•Annual Retreat
Work to develop these one at a time in very
committee and team in the church.

26. Some elements of Elder Leadership
Defining Vision
Discernment
Decision making
Yearly Planning (2%)
Permission Giving
With me and With us
Poise

27. Clarify your Defining Vision
Be who God wants
you to be and
you will set the
world on fire!
Catherine of Siena

28. The 3-D Defining Vision

29. Incline –
Vision
centered
Recline –
program
centered
Decline –
structure

30. Some elements of Leadership
Defining Vision
Discernment
Decision making
Yearly Planning (2%)
Permission Giving
With me and With us (10/90)
Poise

31. Doxological -
Worship
Missional
Endeavor
Koinonial
-Discipleshi
p
Equipping
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The arc of God’s story embraces the arc of how the church has
lived out the three dimensions through history – often with hope
and conflict.
SisAct/9/11 RCH

32. Traditional
Program Centered
Transformational
Vision Centered
Transitional

33. Transitional

34. BLESS and ADDBLESS and ADD

35. Some elements of Leadership
Defining Vision
Discernment & Decision making
(wisdom)
Yearly Planning (2%)
Permission Giving
With me and With us (10/90)
Poise

36. Levels of permission-giving
1. We tell you what to do.
2. You ask us what to do.
3. You ask us for permission for what you
want to do. [the typical Session]
4. You act on your own yet centered on
our shared vision but inform us
immediately.
5. You act on your own yet centered on
our shared vision and inform us

37. Some elements of Leadership
Defining Vision
Discernment
Decision making
Yearly Planning (2%)
Permission Giving
With me and With us (10/90)
Poise

38. 10% Discernment/Decision
What are we going to do?
90% Implementation
How to lead our people “with us” and keep
people on board? Take 9 times the time you
took to descern/decide what to do to figure
out how to do it and to keep your people
with you and in a good spirit.
The 10-90 Rule – to encourage
those we lead to be “with” us.

39. Some elements of Leadership
Defining Vision
Discernment
Decision making
Yearly Planning (2%)
Permission Giving
With me and With us (10/90)
Poise

40. AND
Our culture is in a state of flux -
rapid, manic, discontinuous
change
The Church
is in flux

41. The Worship Shift
Movement from “standard” traditional
liturgies and worship services to a wide
variety off approaches with descriptors such
as traditional, blended, contemporary,
ancient-modern and Taize

42. The Discipleship Shift – from just programs to persons with
persons
Movements from programs to growing
People who invest their lives in people
in order to grow together as disciples.

43. “The maximum impact of the church of Jesus Christ in history in
the world is not the impact of great and eloquent preachers, or
denominations, or church hierarchies, or even popes, or priests,
or cardinals, or all of the programs that the church invented.
The maximum impact of the church of Jesus Christ is the
influence of the aggregate of believers where they are between
Sundays. The measure of the effectiveness of a local church is
not when the sanctuary is full on Sunday morning, and the
programs are in operation. The measure of the effectiveness of
the church is what's happening when the sanctuary is empty,
the parking lot is empty, and the programs are not in operation,
and people are scattered all over a metropolitan area,
penetrating all of the organizations and institutions of that area,
because where they are Christ is - in them. You are the
church.” Richard C. Halverson Former Chaplain of the U.S.
Senate
The Missional Shift – from just programs to personal lifestyle

44. The changing triple helix through history of
The story-narrative of all three dimensions
(doxological, koinonial, mission) of the
Christian life creates both hope and anxiety
for congregations. hope because they find
new ways to do ministry. Anxiety because
many people are afraid of losing what they love.
No wonder discernment, decision-making
and wisdom are so essential!

45. Flux is not merely
“change.” Flux is
continuous change.

46. Some things are not in flux!
The Love of the God who
Sustains us
The love of the people of
God who encourage us
Our love for those to
Whom God sends us

47. Yet many things are in flux!
DJ Patil explains, "There are
sometimes when you can predict
weather well for the next 15 days.
Other times, you can only really
forecast a couple of days. Sometimes
you can't predict the next two hours."
The business [and ministry] climate, it
turns out, is a lot like the weather.
We've entered a next two-hours era.

48. http://www.wimp.com/dadipad/

49. The Twentieth Century is
the name of a train that
no longer runs!
Poet David Lehman
<> 39

50. Technical
Challenges
Adaptive
Challenges

51. In times of rapid changeIn times of rapid change
what you know can misleadwhat you know can mislead
you.you. Michael MarquardtMichael Marquardt
Michael Marquardt

52. Discernment and
decision making
require
Humility,
Inquiry,
and
Experimentation
Presbuteros

53. Define Poise

54. Poise = Balance
Poise is a state of dignified God-
confident balance, equilibrium and
composure.
“If you can keep your head when all
about you are losing theirs and
blaming it on you...” Rudyard Kipling
– If
Nomin

55. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSV9FhupHI

56. Poise
Walking the high wire of transition from
traditional (program-centered) to transformational
(vision-centered)
Walking the high wire of navigating adaptive challenges
of a culture in flux
Walking high wire of trust and control (permission-
giving)
Walking high wire of details vs the big picture
Elders with poise keep the ship of the church on an
even keel!